The Third Quarter Quell
by Margo Boxer
Summary: My take on what the third quarter quell should have been. 24 tributes are going into the arena with 8 victors!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This has most of the original character traits from The Hunger Games, but I am going to change a few things, so don't be surprised if someone is a year or two younger or older than they were originally. **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the hunger games **

Peeta and I sit in our home as we ready ourselves for the announcement of this years Quarter Quell. My stomach churns and the man who took everything from me now takes the stage with that evil little envelope in his hands. I have feared this day for many months and I know that Peeta is also not ready to prepare two children for slaughter. President Snow drawls on and on about the previous Quells and I don't even listen. All I can see is his moving lips and his body language. I see him open the envelope and announce "As a reminder that that even the strongest cannot overcome us, 24 tributes will be placed into the arena along with 8 victors from past hunger games. These 8 victors will be voted on by citizens of the capitol." My heart skipped a beat as I tried to process what I had just heard. I'm going back into the arena. Peetas broken face only confirmed what i had been thinking. These sadistic capitol people would love nothing more than to see us go back into the arena.

They want to see the star crossed lovers overcome the games again. I know how these people think, and with it now being an official rule that both victors can survive together I can almost guarantee that they will beg to see Peeta and I battle the odds together again. Peeta and I lock eyes and he puts his arms around me and for a moment I forget the world. Here I feel safe. A small choked sound escaped from my chest and Peeta holds me tighter.

"You think they will put us back in?"

"I know they will" he responded "But I also know that if anyone can do this, we can do it together. Two tributes, and us. That's a four person alliance that can all come out together. They thought Haymitch was a hero when he brought home the two of us, imagine what they will think when he brings home four."

These words almost bring a smile to my face. Almost.

There is a knock on the door and before I even move to answer it Prim and my mother burst in and the four of us are doing some kind of group hug deal where we are all intertwined and I can't tell whose tears are whose and whose arms are whose.

Prim muffles " They won't put you back in Katniss, they can't! They love you guys!"

Nobody in our hug has the heart to say what we all feel. When they leave Peeta and I go back to our room and I fall on him again. My body is overcome with that weird body hiccup where I cannot get enough breath in my body to support the uncontrollable sobbing. That's when I feel Peetas body suddenly pull away and I hear him raise his voice to just below a shout and say

"No. I will not have this attitude. We are going into this with the attitude that we will come out. We will mentor the two tributes from our district from inside the arena and we will all come back out . We will train like careers and we will give district 12 another year of food."

As my body accepts this news the tear flow stops and I realize that he is right. We need to go into this with the right mind or they will rip us apart. We did it once and we can do it again.

The next morning Haymitch comes over with a meal for us. Pasta and bread.

"Peeta called me last night" he explains "You are going to need to start putting good things into your body if we want to prepare you. We have the advantage of being able to prepare you. Peeta is right, careers always have the advantage, and now you will."

We finish our meal discussing our workout plan for the next few months as well as debating which tributes we will be thrown in with. Haymitch has a few ideas but I have only heard of a few of them, so I decide to quit worrying about my competition and start worrying about myself.

Peeta and I train by running everyday. We adjust our bodies by running for hours on end. We take lessons from my mom and Prim everyday on how to properly treat wounds and which plants will be able to help us. Peeta and I get sad eyes everywhere we go, district 12 would never send us back into the arena, but they know the capitol will. As the citizens realize that we are training we often get stopped by people who want to teach us things that might be useful, thing they think will help us in the arena.

A friend of Peetas father calls us over one day and claims that he has something to show us. We figure it can't hurt and we follow him. He walks ahead of us for a solid twenty five minutes muttering to himself and just when Peeta and I are about to ditch the man we wind up in a clearing. In the far corner is a small pond. The man shrugs. " You never know when you'll need to know how to swim." A smile instantly appears on Peetas face. The man walks back towards the district as Peeta throws his shirt off. He is laughing as he runs over to the pond. I take a moment to admire Peetas body. He had always been stocky, but with all of the recent training his muscles have become defined and to be honest, dead sexy.

He catches me staring and laughs "It's ok Katniss, I don't know how to swim either, but we can teach each other, it can be that hard!"

"I do" someone says as they step out into the clearing. Peeta and I both look at him with confused looks on our faces. "know how to swim that is."


	2. Chapter 2

"How did you get here?" I exclaimed, I hadn't known that anyone followed us.

"I saw the two of you disappear into the woods with an odd looking man," Gale replies "and since you can never be too careful I decided to make sure everything was ok."

This seems odd to me that Gale would think Peeta and I, two victors of the hunger games, couldn't take on a middle aged man that looked so frail I bet Prim could take him down.

"So about those swimming lessons," Gale says

"Guess a little instruction couldn't hurt us" Peeta replies.

With that Gale takes his shirt off, and where Peeta is medium height and has stocky muscles Gale is lean and tall with muscles in places where Peeta does not have them. These muscles come from years of hard work. My eyes flick back to Peeta and he looks uncomfortable.

Gale lopes over to the pond and gracefully dives in, and he begins to swim around. He goes under and just as I start to get nervous that he will not resurface, his head appears. Where on earth did he learn to do that? "so are you guys going to watch all day or are you actually going to get into the water?"

With that Peeta and I begin to wade into the water and we are just at the point where our torso has become submerged. I don't know why I haven't told them that I can swim yet. Maybe it's because I like having the upper hand. I decide to keep this my secret for a little while and let Gale play teacher. Peeta suddenly sets his jaw and goes out further until he cannot touch the ground anymore and he begins to do this weird doggie paddle type of swim and I can tell that Gale is trying not to laugh. I don't know why this upsets me but it does so I go out with Peeta and pretend that I don't know how to swim either. Gale looks confused for a second then begins to help us.

He shows us the different strokes. Peeta really enjoys freestyle whereas I enjoy the breast stroke. Gales best is by far the back stroke. After a few hours of swimming around we begin to have a little fun. We see who can swim fastest in all strokes and though I know I can easily beat both of them I hold myself back and let them win. After being made fun of relentlessly for not being able to keep up I steel my gaze onto Gale. You. Me. Any stoke. Peeta will start us and he will determine the winner.

"well what do I get when I win?" Gale responds

before even think about Peeta standing right there I respond "a kiss" Peetas jaw almost hits the floor and Gales smile grows bigger. It's no secret that Gale has a thing for me and Peeta knows it. Peeta and I have had a few kisses to where he is still upset about me lying in the games but he thinks we are something official. Before Peeta can protest I wink at him "but," I continue, "if I win, no more jokes about Peeta being a bad swimmer, AND you must tell everyone that asks that you have a crush on Delly Cartwright."

Gale scoffs "you're on"

Peeta gives me a hurt look as he says "On your mark, get set, go"

Gale shoots off and I follow not too far behind he lifts his head and looks to see where I am. When he notices how far behind I am he makes a kissy face at me and that's when i decide to turn the joke on him. I pick up my pace and I can feel the crazy energy flowing through my arms. I reach him in six strokes and it takes another three before I pass him. I swim my hardest back to Peeta and find that I beat Gale by a whole three body lengths. I hop out of the water to a stunned Peeta and plant a huge kiss right on his lips as an apology. Right as I realize how dirty this scene might look to Gale Peeta breaks the kiss and gives Gale a look. "so Delly Cartwright huh?"

Gale is fuming and complaining that he doesn't actually have to go through with it because I hustled him, but I know that he will anyways, Gale is a man of his word. A few days pass and Peeta decide to head over to Haymitches to talk some more strategy when we find Gale sitting at the counter. I greet him but as I look at Peeta I notice that his face is as white as a ghost.

"You can't" says Peeta

"I can, and there is nothing you can do to stop me. Just take a minute to think about it. I'll be helping her just as much as you are and isn't that what you want"

I have absolutely no idea what is going on at this point but I can almost see Peeta having a conversation with himself inside his head.

"He is right Peeta" Replies Haymitch.

"Can someone please tell me what is going on?"

"I'm joining you in the 75th Hunger Games."

My heart sinks as I realize that this has been his plan all along. He wasn't following us that day because he was worried, he was following us because he needs to prepare his body as well.

"No, what about your brothers Gale? How will they survive without you? And Prim, she will have no one"

Even as I say this I realize that there is no stopping Gale. He has his mind made up and now we are in this together. I still try and talk him out of it but its Peeta that cuts in telling me that this is best. We can really win this thing. I'm thinking of the very real possibility that we will all be coming home when i hear what they are talking about. Apparently there is supposed to be some sort of capitol announcement tonight. We have all been expecting it, what with the reaping only a few weeks away, they're going to have to announce the victors that will be going back in.


	3. Chapter 3

We flick on the television and the capitol seal is split in half and President Snow comes on the screen.

"Ladies and Gentleman, the moment that you've all been waiting for, the announcement of the victors competing in this years hunger games! With the highest amount of votes is Augustus Jacobi, victor of district 7. They briefly flash a picture of a 26-some year old man with dark green eyes, dark brown hair, very tan, and very built. Haymitch groans "Augustus is the most self-absorbed pretty boy I've ever had the misfortune of meeting. Don't let those looks distract you though, he can kill viciously." Next President Snow announces "and coming in second place we have Katniss Everdeen followed closely by her district partner Peeta Mellark, no surprise there" That's it. I mean i was almost certain that I was going in anyways, but now it is a fact. I look around the room and see Gale shaking his head, Haymitch reaching for his flask, and Peeta looking at me reassuringly.

We turn our attention back to the screen as Snow announces that #4 and #5 will both be from district 1 They are both fairly young and I remember watching their games on television, first Cleo won, then the next year Kane won it for district one again. The thing I remember is that both were careers and both were very good at what they do. Kane took pride in his killings, and Cleo never showed remorse. They were both attractive and bound to pull some heavy sponsors.

"Coming in sixth place we have Coda Ventl from district three" The screen flashes the largest man that I have ever seen. I do not remember his games but Haymitchs frown deepens. The next girl that appears on screen is the most beautiful girl that I've ever seen. Even Gale has to catch his breath. Based on the number flashing under her screen she is from district 8.

"Finally," Snow announces, "We have Peppers Young from district 5" He continues to drabble on, but the men in the room are already weighing the pros and cons of the selected victors. We know that district one will be our biggest threat because they are also all fairly young, in shape, and they will also have a four person alliance. They are also loved by the capitol and they will not be short of sponsors. We are all curious to see who will be joining us at the reaping tomorrow.

Peeta and I rise early on the morning of the reaping and we ready ourselves to meet our fourth team member. We each go to spend a few hours with our respective families before we leave. Prim is waiting for me at the door in one of my old outfits, and my has she grown. She is wearing the same braid that is always in my hair and you can tell that we are related. Without words she comes into my arms. I can tell that she is holding in her tears for me and soon our mom joins the hug. We gather for breakfast, but I do not eat because I will be eating on the train and I don't want to take any food out of the district when I know I will be eating later. I tell them that again I will try my best to come home to them. Haymitch told me that if anything were to happen he would make sure they were fed. This fact makes this goodbye a little less painful.

Too soon I am collected by a peacekeeper and brought on stage. I take my seat next to Peeta, and we are greeted by the always bubbly Effie Trinket. After about twenty minutes the square is filled and Effie brings out the devices in which the names are held. I feel as though her introductions have gone by in a blur and before I know it she is pulling out a slip of paper and reading the name "Puffs Mallum" and I keep my face expressionless as I watch Puffs take the stage I know her from class and she is not my first choice as an ally, but she will do. I watch her face and see that it has gone pale white and she is trembling as she tries not to show emotion. She takes a seat next to us and Effie begins to draw the second name "Fin Jackson" Fin also does not look happy about being called but he makes his way onto the stage.

Effie goes through welcoming them to the 75th Hunger Games with a bright smile and then she asks "Do we have any volunteers?" And because I know it will happen we planned to smile as Gale takes the stage so that people will know that this is planned. When Gale steps up Fins face goes so bright and he practically runs off the stage. Gale introduces himself and Effie is ready to wrap things up, but then another volunteer steps up. A girl this time.


	4. Chapter 4

As Madge walked up to the stage I tried to do my best at pretending that this was all part of the plan, but my stomach hit the floor. What was she thinking? I looked at Peeta who was smiling and clapping, and then over at Gale who was a little pale but he was smiling as if this were all part of the plan. Haymitch had a calculating look on his face. There was a large amount of applause from the audience who clearly thought that all of this was our plan.

We were shuffled into waiting rooms where we would say goodbye to friends. First up were my mother and Prim. Almost no words were spoken. We simply held each other. I kissed Prims forehead, and my mother kissed mine. When their time was up we gave each other one last squeeze.

Next came Gales mom and his siblings. She told me to look out for Gale and to come home soon because they would be waiting for us. She radiated confidence in our plan, but I could tell that she was worried about Gale.

My next visitor was the mayor. He revealed that Madge had been planning to join us ever since she had heard about the quell, but she knew I would try to talk her out of it. He told me not to be too hard on her and to not underestimate her. She has been training as well, maybe even harder than us, and she knew things that we might not. He told me to take care of her.

I was then shuffled onto the train and the first person that I saw was Peeta. He greeted me with a comforting hug. I looked up and give him a quick kiss on the lips. We went off to find the others and he took my hand. We ran into Haymitch who had no idea about Madge volunteering, so we set off to find her and Gale. We heard furious whispering around the corner and the last thing I heard was "... only did the same thing that you did so its not like you can get mad a-" before they realized that we were there. Madge took a step away from Gale and there was an awkward silence.

" I mean there is nothing we can do about it now and don't a single one of you even think you could have done any better with Puffs on your team."Haymitch cracked a smile, "I suppose you are right"

Though I was very against her volunteering, what's done is done and I'm sure she was having a hard enough time with all of this and didn't need anyone yelling her so I gave her a hug which is not something I usually do but she looked like she could use one.

"well now that that's taken care of, why don't you guys go get changed and cleaned up for dinner." Haymitch said.

We each went to our respective rooms and I hopped into the shower. I was no better at controlling the showers than I was last year but I managed alright. When I got out I changed into the clothes laid out and walked into the dinner compartment. Effie, Peeta, and Gale were already seated. Effie had taken a particular interest in Gale and was often looking at his arms or asking him questions about home life. Peeta occasionally laughed at the two of them. He looked at them and the looked at me and joking raised his eyebrows. I suppressed a laugh.

I could tell that Gale was disgusted that they would fill the whole compartment with food when there would only be six of us eating.I took my seat next to Peeta and he gave my leg a little rub as I sat down. I thought Gale scoffed but i'm not sure how he could have seen that. Moments later Madge walked in and greeted us. She sat right between Gale and Effie. Effie looked a little put off, the rest of us welcomed Madge and pointed out the foods that she should try.

"OK so I just want you to know that I have been training just as hard as you guys, if not harder, and I refuse to be a liability to this team I fully intend on returning back to district 12 with you guys"

Because Madge managed to say this all in one breath it became really funny and I found that Peeta and Haymitch were laughing as well. Gale smirked and Effie was busy looking at a small device in her hands to even notice that she was even talking.

Effie left to go do some capitol business. We talked a little strategy but Haymitch decided that he wanted to go to bed so that he could get an early start in the capitol. Madge was having a difficult time keeping her eyes open so she went off to bed. And then there were three.

"So I am just going to come right out and say it" Peeta announced "We all know that you care for Katniss and that Katniss cares for you, but if you are about to go to Panem and announce that you care for her as more than a cousin, you will be causing this alliance a great deal of trouble." his tone suddenly got a lot more serious as he looked Gale in the eyes "moreover she is MY girlfriend. Don't forget that." I had never heard him call me his girlfriend before, and I agreed that it had to be said, I just didn't want him to do it so harshly.

Gale nodded his head that he understood and walked out of the room. I though I heard him mutter something along the lines of "all is fair" but I can't be sure.

"too much?" Peeta asked.

" I mean you could have been a little less harsh but I think he gets the message." I replied.

"I mean I know that we haven't talked much about the arena last year, but I really care for you a lot, I'm not doing this for the audience, but I'll use them as my excuse to keep him away if I have to. I mea-"

I pinched his lips shut

"Peeta" he shook his head up and down "." He tried to laugh into his pinched lips. Then he pulled me into a hug and buried his head into my shoulder. He looked up and kissed me. I responded. I felt him tug me over so I was sitting on his lap. Some weird instinct came over me and I began to fervently kiss Peeta. He instinctively responded, but then he broke away. "you never let me finish!"

"I know that I never let you finish," I said "because you have it all wrong. Yes sometimes in the games I responded to Haymitchs instruction, but there were other times where I wanted to block everyone out and just be with you. I care for you a lot more than you think Peeta."

His smile was bigger than I had seen in weeks. "What say you we hit the hay? Big big day tomrrow" I stuck my tongue out at him.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N if anyone is reading this this is my first fan fic so if you like it- or even if you dont reviews are loved. :)**

The sun was just coming up when I woke up that morning. I had every intention of going right back to sleep when I noticed that Peeta had this strange look on his face as he was sleeping. His nose and eyebrows started twitching and there was sweat gathered on his forehead. I lightly shook his arm, to wake him out of his nightmare and he jumped about a foot then looked me square in the eyes without saying anything for about three seconds. I gave him a questioning look and suddenly his lips were on mine. "oh, thank god" was all he said.

We were interrupted when Madge banged into the room. "Oh uh I'll- um I'm supposed to wake Katniss, we need to be prepped. Sorry." Her face was beat red. Peeta laughed it off and we untangled ourselves and left the room. Peeta went over to his compartment and Madge and I walked off to meet Cinna and the rest of the team. I was expecting her to be excited she surely was someone who would appreciate Cinnas amazing designs. But she just asked "I thought it was just for the games." rather coldly. I gave her a questioning look and she went on "You and Peeta."

"Oh. Um well we are still kind of working things out." She didn't say anything.

When we got to the room we began the torturous process of being scrubbed, clipped, and polished. We were in the same room and she only looked slightly uncomfortable about being naked in front of our team. My team gushed about how excited they were, they talked about how great the outfits would look on Gale.

Everyone in the capitol seemed to be in love with Gale and his good looks. I also noticed that they looked at Madge with adoring eyes as well. I felt like I was the red-headed stepchild of the group, but then I remembered that their good looks will help with sponsors and they already knew what I was capable of. I tried to see this as a good thing.

I was put into a bright red dress that had orange flames at the bottom. It was tight fitting and almost...how do I put this-sexy I guess. I had put on some weight and didn't look emaciated anymore, so I was able to fill this out pretty well. Madge on the other hand was in a brown dress that was also tight fitting and if I thought I looked good she looked like a supermodel.

Cinna was very excited to meet Madge and they seemed to hit it off. He never asked her why she decided to voluenteer, but simply asked questions to determine her personality. As we were walking out Cinna winked at me and mouthed something like 'still betting on you and I laughed out loud.

When we exited our compartment we ran right into Peeta and Gale who both wore the same expressions. Both of their jaws dropped and Madge walked over to Peeta first and lifted his jaw back into his chin, but before she could get to Gale his jaw closed with an audible snap. They both blushed deeply.

"wow um you guys look great."

I walked over to Peeta and gave him a peck on the cheek

"you don't look so bad yourself."

Gale was dressed in a black suit with a black shirt and a brown tie. Peeta was dressed in a white suit with an orange tie that matched my dress. You might think that individually we looked tacky, but together we looked like we could all be part of a large fire. We had coal, wood, red fire, and white fire. I was amazed.

Effie walked in on our little gathering and even she let out an audible gasp. She caught her breath and began to shuffle us outside to board our chariot. I noticed that this year the chariot was a little nicer. The wheels were cleaner and the horses were new.

Peeta came over and played with my hair a little bit before we got onto the train. In the middle of this Cinna came over and told us how we were to stand. He snapped a finger at Madge who wasn't paying attention. She looked a little upset about something.

Anyways" he continued. I want Gale on the far left, followed by Katniss on Gales right, Peeta on Katniss' right and Madge on Peetas right. I want the four of you to hold hands, but I want the focus to be mainly on Gale and Madge. You will be smiling and making eye contact with everyone.

Peeta and Katniss I want you to look straight ahead and not to acknowledge anyone. I really liked this plan because I knew I could do this right at least.

When our chariot took off it lurched forward and Madge fell forward a bit but Peeta caught her in time. She mumbled a thanks and her face was beat red. I don't think anyone saw her though because we were hardly in view.

Moments later the crowd came into view and even though I could hear them the number of people there still amazed me. Many people held up signs. I even saw one that said 'MARRY ME KATNISS' I was so disgusted with that, that it helped me with the whole being pissed off act. As if I would ever marry a piece of capitol scum.

I could tell that everyone was loving Gale and Madge because I heard their names mixed in with mine and Peetas. They were screaming for my attention demanding that I at least acknowledge them. How could they even expect me to love them? Were they that stupid to realize that I would not be happy with the group of people that are sending me back into the arena?

I noticed that Gales hand was getting a little sweaty but so I gave him a reassuring squeeze. Before I knew it the ride was over and we were being helped off, and we were given compliments about our outfits.

I was able to see that many of the districts took Cinnas idea of light up costumes, as district seven was dressed as Christmas trees. I'm not kidding. Christmas trees.

There were a few other weird costumes, but once again it had become apparent that we stole the show. I didn't even care that we were given sneers and mean looks. We were a force to be reckoned with.


End file.
